NEW YORK, New York - A softening of bond yields Thursday helped to underpin U.S. stock prices.

"What we're seeing here is a stock market trying to absorb the Fed's tightening and basically trying to put in a low in a bear market," Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York told Reuters news agency Thursday.

"We have yields that are coming down, and so that's helping stocks. The market has discounted a lot, and yesterday Powell basically acknowledged they're going to do everything to fight inflation... for now, the market has probably discounted somewhat of a mild recession," Cardillo said.

Technology stocks led the charge Thursday with the Nasdaq Composite surging 179.11 points or 1.62 percent to 11,237.19.

The Dow Jones industrials climbed 194.23 points or 0.64 percent to 30,677.31.

The Standard and Poor's 500 advanced 35.84 points or 0.95 percent to 3,795.73.

The U.S. dollar which rallied during the Asian trading zone, retreated in European and U.S. trading as bond yields eased.

The euro firmed up to 1.0526 around the New York close Thursday. The British pound perked up to 1.2269. The Japanese yen rose to 134.94. The Swiss franc was stronger at 0.9605.

The Canadian dollar edged up to 1.2985. The Australian dollar firmed to 0.6901. The New Zealand dollar strengthened to 0.6288.

On overseas equity markets, the FTSE 100 in London declined 0.97 percent. The Greman Dax was off 1.76 percent. The CAC 40 in Paris, France dropped 0.56 percent.

In Asia, China's Shanghai Composite did best, rising 52.95 points or 1.62 percent to 3,320.15.

In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 climbed 135.23 points or 1.27 percent to 10,813.92.

The Australian All Ordinaries added 9.10 points or 0.14 percent to 6,691.40.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 265.53 points or 1.26 percent to 21,273.87.

In South Korea, the Kospi Composite, going against the regional trend, fell 28.49 points or 1.22 percent to 2,314.32.